Samudragupta, the second emperor of the imperial Gupta Dynasty, was one of the greatest monarchs in the Indian history. Besides being a great warrior, a determined conqueror and a generous ruler, he was also a devoted fan of arts and culture, particularly poetry and music. While conquering different parts of India to extend his empire, he administered different policies for the northern and southern parts of India - while he ruled the upper parts under his direct control, the south, frontier states and tribal territories were permitted autonomy and freedom, though with a definite influence on them. He is regarded as the greatest ruler of the Gupta Dynasty with several western scholars terming him as the ‘Indian Napoleon’, largely due to his numerous military conquests to expand his empire. While Ashoka pledged never to war again after the Battle of Kalinga, Samudragupta, on the other hand, continued to capture states and territories to build a vast Indian military empire, which became one of the greatest kingdoms in the history of ancient Indian civilization. Details of his extensive reign and various conquests can be found engraved on gold coins and rock edicts. After the completion of his conquests, Samudragupta performed the Asvamedha Yanjna or horse sacrifice. Samudragupta issued different types of gold coins. He was succeeded by his son Chandragupta II also known as Vikramaditya.